NYT/AP: Abramoff Investigator (Sen. Dorgan, D., N.D.) Aided Mashpee Tribe

[DeepModem Mom]

Abramoff Investigator Aided Mashpee Tribe
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 1, 2005
Filed at 9:23 p.m. ET


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top Senate Democrat investigating Jack Abramoff's Indian lobbying met several times with the lobbyist's team and clients, held a fundraiser in Abramoff's arena skybox and arranged congressional help for one of the tribes, records show.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., acknowledges he got Congress in fall 2003 to press government regulators to decide, after decades of delay, whether the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts deserved federal recognition.

Dorgan met with the tribe's representatives and collected at least $11,500 in political donations from Abramoff partner Michael D. Smith, who was representing the Mashpee, around the time he helped craft the legislation, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The senator didn't reimburse the Mississippi Choctaw for the use of Abramoff's skybox in 2001, when the tribe threw him a fundraiser there, instead treating it as a tribal contribution. He only recently reimbursed the tribe for the box, four years later, after determining it was connected to Abramoff.

Dorgan says he sees no reason to step down from the Abramoff investigation, which he and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are leading. He said he had no idea at the time that any of the transactions were connected to Abramoff or the alleged fleecing of tribes....


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Tribes-Letters--Dollars.html

[Atman]

1. Hang him.

We can't, as a party, claim Dorgan's actions were any less tainted than the republican's. If he's dirty, he should go. If he's even got enough dirt on him to suggest he's dirty, he should go. Fuck 'em all. Clean house. This is the worst crop of government officials we've had in a generation...clean house, sweep 'em out. The people that come in after them should be so scared shitless that they won't take a free window-wash from a Times Square street vendor.

Enough is e-fucking-nuff!

[AX10]

2. Dorgan debunked this on Ed Schultz today.

Dorgan is clean.

[David Zephyr]

3. Dorgan can not continue in his role investigating Abramoff.

n/t

[Skip Intro]

6. You're right. Its the appearance. He should recuse himself.

damn. I really hope he didn't know, but it doesn't matter whether he did or didn't. If he broke a law, then he should be taken rigth up with the rest. If he didn't, then we'll see him on the other side. But he should be replaced on this investigation, the sooner the better.

This will be a growing plus for the bush gang until he does.

[papau]

8. LOL - thanks for the smile before bedtime! Go Dorgan!!! :-)

:-)

[stepnw1f]

4. ya and so.... Where's the Crime? (nt)

[AX10]

5. He accepted campaing contibutions and nothing else.

All members of congress accept them.

[jsamuel]

7. um... none of that is illegal... right?

accepting campaign contrabutions and pushing for those who contribute...

I am confused.

If it is illegal, get him the heck out. If it isn't, why has there been more stories about Dorgan than anyone else under investigation?

[Toots]

9. Maybe we will see more of his crocadile tears like when he backed down

over the NAZI deal. I sometimes like what Dorgan says and does but sometimes he does more damage than good like with his NAZI reference and his tears. If he is corrupt and it sounds like he is then he needs to go...

[bornskeptic]

10. You're confusing Dorgan, D-ND, with Durbin, D-IL. n/t

[Toots]

11. You are right I apologize to Dorgan fans

Me bad :spank: but I still feel if they are corrupt they need to go period...

[Qanisqineq]

12. Statement by Senator Dorgan on Ap Story

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Statement by Senator Dorgan on Ap Story on Abramoff Investigation
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) issued the following statement Thursday in response to an Associated Press story:

"This is another story that uses innuendo and a thin tissue of disconnected facts in an attempt to connect me to the Abramoff scandal that Senator John McCain and I have been investigating.

"The fact is I have never met Abramoff and have never received a campaign contribution from him. If he was directing any of his clients to make a political contribution to me, it was done without my knowledge.

"I serve on two Senate committees that deal with Indian issues and I have for many years worked hard to help Indians deal with the crisis in education, health care and housing. I have also been proud to have received support from individual Indians and Indian tribes in my reelection campaign.

"The investigation that Senator John McCain and I are chairing has uncovered massive fraud committed against Indian tribes. And the targets of our investigation are now trying to discredit it.

"Both of us have been attacked in the press recently either by, or orchestrated by, those we are investigating.

"Today’s news story once again cleverly arranges a set of facts to create a suspicion.

"The story reports that the Choctaw Indian tribe did a fundraiser for me in a skybox in 2001 that the reporter claims was owned by Abramoff.

"The facts are, two Democrats from the Greenberg Traurig firm arranged the fundraiser and told my campaign it was a skybox owned by the Choctaw Indians. And that is the way we reported it on the Federal Election Campaign report. The fundraiser was perfectly legal and the Choctaw tribe has contributed to my campaign dating back to 1997.

"The story also cites a sentence that I included in a manager’s statement urging the Interior Department to make a decision on an application for tribal recognition by a Massachusetts tribe whose application had been pending for 29 years. That tribe made the request to my staff to include the language because I was the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee and they had secured support from Senators Kennedy and Kerry to ask that their application finally be considered. The letter from Senators Kennedy and Kerry to the Interior Department and the language that I added to the manager’s statement does not ask for a specific result. It only asked that their application be considered after 29 years. The news story tried to connect that action to future campaign contributions I had received. That is absurd and false.

"All campaign contributions I received were publicly reported as required by law. Indians have a right to fully participate in our democracy – to vote, to contribute to campaigns, and to meet with members of the Congress.

"The investigation Senator McCain and I are conducting has been a relentless one, and we will not be diverted from it."

http://www.dorgan.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=249445



Is this to be limited to 4 paragraphs? I don't know. Fuck it, I'll change it when someone tells me to.

[donkeyotay]

14. Best defense is a good offense. And Delay went after the judge, too.

I support fully taxpayer funded elections and restricting lobbying to making public statements. No gifts. No trips, no golfing, no nothing. However, by the current rules, it appears that what Dorgan did was "legal and normal." This is a GOP offense to deflect public awareness of the depths of the crime that has gone on under their party's restoration of "dignity and honor." At least read up on the nature of the investigation into those actually under investigation instead of the investigation into the investigators. (Whew!) This is the same as early attempts to discredit Fitzgerald and is consistent with the 3-D tactics of deny, distract and discredit.


''He was told the skybox was the Choctaws','' Barry Piatt said.

Dorgan didn't reimburse the tribe, instead reporting the event as an ''in-kind'' $1,800 tribal contribution without specifying it involved the skybox.

Piatt said reporting it that way was legal and normal. The senator reimbursed the tribe $1,800 for the skybox earlier this year when he learned from reports that it was connected to Abramoff, Piatt said.

[sofa king]

13. Mashpee has a valid claim which requires legislation.

I don't expect you to take my word for it, but I don't expect you to spend six years studying the http://www.indian-affairs.org/federalacknowledgment.htm">federal acknowledgment process, either.

Every unrecognized tribe has a unique history which must be considered in its own context, but even by comparison to others Mashpee was a remarkable tribe with a clever and effective plan for survival. They are well known both to Members of Congress with an interest in Indian affairs and to those with an interest in the federal acknowledgment process and tribes in general.

The particular issue with Mashpee is that they were screwed over by a federal court decision which rendered their status totally unworkable. That decision makes even less sense to the people who study these things than it will to those of you who do not.

As a result, Mashpee has been required to go through the federal acknowledgment process even though they will almost certainly be denied because of their unusual judicial termination. The overwhelmed Office of Federal Acknowledgment has been forced to put examination of their petition on hold. The only real solution for a restoration of their status as a tribe (which most qualified observers agree they deserve) is specific federal legislation. The only practical way to win that legislation is to grease the rails. This, unfortunately, is how Congress works.

It is also unfortunate for them that they hitched their wagon to the Abramoff star, but that association should not be held against their claim to a restoration of status, nor should Senator Dorgan's interest in the matter be considered to be solely based upon the Abramoff influence. Many of us with a sympathy for tribes have a soft spot in our hearts for Mashpee.

Had I a say in the matter, I would have advised a similar course of engagement with Senators on the Committee on Indian Affairs.

I hope the above better explains this particular matter. It is not intended to defend Senator Dorgan, or Abramoff, or the Mashpee Wampanoag. I do however think it is important that people understand why this situation exists in the first place. Indian Affairs is a complicated, often byzantine subject, and the Bush Administration in general and Mr. Abramoff in particular have demonstrated utter contempt for it, and twisted it to their monetary gain. This is no better than hunting Indians for profit or stealing their land; it is merely a different form of the same cowardly exploitation.